Traditional Boscaiola Food

FETTUCCINE BOSCAIOLA

Steps:

• Heat oil spray in large frying pan.
• Add bacon, onion and garlic. Cook until onion softens, stirring gently.
• Add mushrooms, cook until golden.
• Stir in cream, bring to the boil.
• Reduce heat and simmer until sauce reduces and thickens slightly.
• Add cornflour water, bring to the boil again then instantly reduce heat, stirring constantly as sauce thickens.
• Stir in parsley and parmesan.
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• Pour over boiled hot pasta and mix.
• Serve sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

QUICK AND CREAMY BOSCAIOLA PASTA (BACON AND MUSHROOM)

Steps:

• Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of rapidly boiling salted water until 'al dente'. Drain, return to the pan, and keep warm.
• While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the bacon and mushroom, and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, or until golden brown.
• Stir in a little of the cream, and scrape the wooden spoon on the bottom of the pan to dislodge any bacon that has stuck.
• Add the remaining cream, bring to the boil, and cook over high heat for 15 minutes, OR until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
• Stir the spring onion through the mixture.
• Pour the sauce over the pasta, and toss to combine.
• Serve sprinkled with the parsley.

PASTA ALLA BOSCAIOLA

Steps:

• Place a large pot of water on to boil for pasta.
• Place dry mushrooms in stock in a saucepan and bring to low boil to reconstitute. Reduce stock by half, then set aside.
• Heat 1 tablespoon EVOO in a large pan over medium-high heat, add pancetta, guanciale or sausage and render. When pancetta starts to brown, add the fresh mushrooms.
• Strip and finely chop rosemary. Strip and stack sage leaves and very thinly slice. Add shallots, garlic, salt, pepper and herbs to fresh mushrooms, add 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil and stir 2 to 3 minutes. Add white wine and reduce by half. Add tomatoes and passata. Remove porcini mushrooms with slotted spoon from stock and add all but the last few tablespoons of stock (where grit may have settled) to the sauce. Reduce the heat under sauce to low simmer. Chop porcini mushrooms and add them to the sauce. Add heavy cream if using and stir.
• Add pasta and salt to boiling water and cook pasta 1 minute less than package direction. Reserve 3/4 cup pasta water and drain pasta.
• Return pasta to hot pot, add some pasta water, the cheese, a little EVOO or butter and half of the sauce and toss vigorously 1 full minute to combine. Use more of the hot reserved water as necessary to loosen sauce if it becomes too thick. Serve family style or in shallow bowls topped with remaining sauce. Garnish with parsley.